According to its self-reported version, Cisco IOS XR is affected by a vulnerability.

  - A vulnerability in the CLI of Cisco IOS XR Software could allow an authenticated, local     attacker to execute arbitrary commands as root on the underlying operating system of an     affected device. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user arguments that     are passed to specific CLI commands. An attacker with a low-privileged account could exploit     this vulnerability by using crafted commands at the prompt. A successful exploit could allow     the attacker to elevate privileges to root and execute arbitrary commands. (CVE-2026-20040)

Please see the included Cisco BIDs and Cisco Security Advisory for more information.

Detections

Analytics

Cisco IOS XR Software CLI Privilege Escalation (cisco-sa-iosxr-privesc-bF8D5U4W)

high Nessus Plugin ID 302176

Version 1.2

Version 1.1

Version 1.2 Mar 17, 2026, 4:16 PM Exploit attributes ("Exploit available" set to "False") Exploit attributes ("Exploitability ease" set to "No known exploits are available") Plugin Feed: 202603171616
Version 1.1 Mar 13, 2026, 8:16 PM New Plugin Feed: 202603132016